ABOUT WILDEWOODS

Our goal at Wildewoods is to create exquisite, custom wood furniture. To this end, our craftsmen work with only the best quality lumber and use time-honored techniques in their creations, including joinery techniques like mortise and tenon, pegged tenons, sliding dovetails and dovetailed solid wood drawers. Everything we produce is hand crafted with great care and attention to all details.

We know the joy that a fine piece of custom furniture can bring and that is why we strive for perfection in every piece. We always desire to form friendly, open relationships with our customers and encourage your participation in the creation of your project.

Terry Wilde is an unusual craftsman. There certainly are plenty of carpenters in Louisiana, but none who regularly elevate wood into high art. Wilde, from his busy Wildewoods workshop in Ponchatoula, has turned pieces of mahogany, cherry, oak and cypress into masterpieces such as freestanding French Regency-style cabinets and lovingly-crafted plantation shutters. He’s even created elegantly-arched cathedral doors for a Catholic church in Colorado and frequently ships jobs out of state. Wilde specialties also include handmade furniture, custom cabinetry, doors and staircases as well as the restoration and refinishing of delicate antiques.

Judging from his work, no one would guess that Wilde wasn’t born with lathe in hand – or that he is a former banker who claims his father “didn’t know which side of a hammer to pick up.” But lucky for Southeast Louisiana homeowners, Wilde didn’t enjoy the banking life. “I hated it,” he says frankly. Luckily, a friend suggested Wilde try his hand at carpentry. “I thought he was crazy because I didn’t know the first thing about it,” he admits. “But I was young and didn’t have anything to lose, so I decided to go for it.”

He got his first framing job when he told the boss “I learn fast, I work hard, and at the end of the week if you don’t think I’m worth keeping, I’ll be on my way,” Wilde recalls. Of course, he got the job and within six months was promoted to foreman. It wasn’t until several years later, when he began renovating 100-year-old Victorian homes in Uptown New Orleans, that Wilde fell in love with the finer points of carpentry. “The homes have such fine woodwork,” he says. “The crown molding – even the beautiful joinery work behind the walls – started a burning desire inside of me to learn and do more.”

After a successful career as a custom homebuilder, Wilde finally decided to pursue this passion. Fifteen years ago, he hung the shingle for his fine custom woodworking shop and hasn’t looked back. “I put a lot of heart and soul into my work,” Wilde says. “It’s my passion.”